CHIPPENHAM Town continued their magnificent start to the season with two 1-0 victories over the Bank Holiday weekend.

First, on Saturday, Ross Stearn’s 94th-minute winner secured three points away at Slough Town before Will Richards headed in the only goal of the game against Havant & Waterlooville at the Thornbury Surfacing Stadium on Monday.

All told, the Bluebirds are now on seven points from their opening three games and remain one of six unbeaten sides in National League South.

Speaking to club media after the second of those wins, manager Mike Cook admitted he was surprised by his side’s early success given they had been ravaged by a Covid outbreak during the latter stages of pre-season.

Reacting to the 1-0 win over Havant, Cook said: “It’s a bit of a surprise. We were a bit apprehensive about the fixture because we didn’t feel we were quite ready fitness-wise given everything we’ve had going on at the club. But we’ve rotated the squad and had some great performances.

“Spencer Hamilton was absolutely magnificent [against Havant], Spencer has come in from Forest Green but he looks accomplished already despite being only 18.

“Adam Mann was outstanding too - there was really nobody that had a bad game. We needed to be like that because they are a really tough opposition.”

The returning Richards’ header late in the first half against Havant gave Chippenham a deserved victory, in the eyes of boss Cook.

The Bluebirds chief revealed his team was praised by opposition manager Lee Bradbury post-match too, who also had no complaints over the end result.

Cook said: “Recently, we haven’t been sharp, we haven’t been at it. I know I keep mentioning it but the Covid situation has really had a strong effect on us.

“We’re getting to a point over the next two or three weeks where fitness will return to where it should be, so we’re bound to have a bit of a dip somewhere along the line, but at the moment, we’re playing well.

“It was nice of their manager to come up to me and say: “you deserved that today”. He’s got a little bit of class about him, and it was nice to get that pat on the back because we did deserve that.”